587 research outputs found
Embodying the Spirit(s): Pentecostal Demonology and Deliverance Discourse in Ethiopia
The article explores Pentecostal embodiment practices and concepts with regard to Holy Spirit baptism and demon possession. The studied material is connected to a specific and highly controversial debate in Ethiopian Pentecostalism, which revolves around the possibility of demon possession in born-again and Spirit-filled Christians. This debate runs through much of Ethiopian Pentecostal history and ultimately is concerned with whether or how Christians can host conflicting spiritual forces, in light of the strong dualism between God and evil in Pentecostal cosmology. The article shows that the embodiment of spirits and/or the Holy Spirit is related to theological concepts of the self, because these concepts define what may or may not be discerned in certain bodily manifestations. Moreover, the article contends that this debate thrives on a certain ambiguity in spirit embodiment, which invites the discernment of spiritual experts and thereby becomes a resource of power
The Mitochondrial Ca(2+) Uniporter: Structure, Function, and Pharmacology.
Mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake is crucial for an array of cellular functions while an imbalance can elicit cell death. In this chapter, we briefly reviewed the various modes of mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake and our current understanding of mitochondrial Ca(2+) homeostasis in regards to cell physiology and pathophysiology. Further, this chapter focuses on the molecular identities, intracellular regulators as well as the pharmacology of mitochondrial Ca(2+) uniporter complex
Collective oscillations of a 1D trapped Bose gas
Starting from the hydrodynamic equations of superfluids, we calculate the
frequencies of the collective oscillations of a harmonically trapped Bose gas
for various 1D configurations. These include the mean field regime described by
Gross-Pitaevskii theory and the beyond mean field regime at small densities
described by Lieb-Liniger theory. The relevant combinations of the physical
parameters governing the transition between the different regimes are
discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Cellular Reactive Oxygen Species Inhibit MPYS Induction of IFNβ
Many inflammatory diseases, as well as infections, are accompanied by elevation in cellular levels of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Here we report that MPYS, a.k.a. STING, which was recently shown to mediate activation of IFNβ expression during infection, is a ROS sensor. ROS induce intermolecular disulfide bonds formation in MPYS homodimer and inhibit MPYS IFNβ stimulatory activity. Cys-64, -148, -292, -309 and the potential C88xxC91 redox motif in MPYS are indispensable for IFNβ stimulation and IRF3 activation. Thus, our results identify a novel mechanism for ROS regulation of IFNβ stimulation
Young girls embodied experiences of femininity and social class
Based on research with middle-upper class 12-13 year old school girls, we discuss how femininities were embodied and discursively reconstructed in class-based ways. The data suggests the girls understood class antagonisms within the boundaries of neoliberal discourses of responsibilisation, self-discipline, self-worth, and ‘proper’ conduct and choices. With class stripped of any structural or structuring properties, instead imparted to the fleshy sinews of the (excessive) body, the data reveals how social class was made visible and manifest in various mechanisms of, and meanings about, inclusion, exclusion, pathology and ‘normalisation.’ Thus, in explicating the ways in which the school girls embodied middle-class femininity (as the epitome of localised and everyday neoliberalism) we highlight how, in turn, ‘others’ (‘chavs’) were pathologised and deemed in need of regulation, management and governance
Dynamical properties of the unitary Fermi gas: collective modes and shock waves
We discuss the unitary Fermi gas made of dilute and ultracold atoms with an
infinite s-wave inter-atomic scattering length. First we introduce an efficient
Thomas-Fermi-von Weizsacker density functional which describes accurately
various static properties of the unitary Fermi gas trapped by an external
potential. Then, the sound velocity and the collective frequencies of
oscillations in a harmonic trap are derived from extended superfluid
hydrodynamic equations which are the Euler-Lagrange equations of a
Thomas-Fermi-von Weizsacker action functional. Finally, we show that this
amazing Fermi gas supports supersonic and subsonic shock waves.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, invited talk at the International Workshop
"Critical Stability 2011" (Erice, October 2011), to be published in the
journal Few Body System
The PRIDE database and related tools and resources in 2019: improving support for quantification data
The PRoteomics IDEntifications (PRIDE) database (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pride/) is the world's largest data repository of mass spectrometry-based proteomics data, and is one of the founding members of the global ProteomeXchange (PX) consortium. In this manuscript, we summarize the developments in PRIDE resources and related tools since the previous update manuscript was published in Nucleic Acids Research in 2016. In the last 3years, public data sharing through PRIDE (as part of PX) has definitely become the norm in the field. In parallel, data re-use of public proteomics data has increased enormously, with multiple applications. We first describe the new architecture of PRIDE Archive, the archival component of PRIDE. PRIDE Archive and the related data submission framework have been further developed to support the increase in submitted data volumes and additional data types. A new scalable and fault tolerant storage backend, Application Programming Interface and web interface have been implemented, as a part of an ongoing process. Additionally, we emphasize the improved support for quantitative proteomics data through the mzTab format. At last, we outline key statistics on the current data contents and volume of downloads, and how PRIDE data are starting to be disseminated to added-value resources including Ensembl, UniProt and Expression Atlas
Trans-mitochondrial coordination of cristae at regulated membrane junctions
Reminiscent of bacterial quorum sensing, mammalian mitochondria participate in inter-organelle communication. However, physical structures that enhance or enable interactions between mitochondria have not been defined. Here we report that adjacent mitochondria exhibit coordination of inner mitochondrial membrane cristae at inter-mitochondrial junctions (IMJs). These electron-dense structures are conserved across species, resistant to genetic disruption of cristae organization, dynamically modulated by mitochondrial bioenergetics, independent of known inter-mitochondrial tethering proteins mitofusins and rapidly induced by the stable rapprochement of organelles via inducible synthetic linker technology. At the associated junctions, the cristae of adjacent mitochondria form parallel arrays perpendicular to the IMJ, consistent with a role in electrochemical coupling. These IMJs and associated cristae arrays may provide the structural basis to enhance the propagation of intracellular bioenergetic and apoptotic waves through mitochondrial networks within cells
BEC Collapse and Dynamical Squeezing of Vacuum Fluctuations
We analyze the phenomena of Bose Novae, as described by Donley et al [Nature
412, 295 (2001)], by focusing on the behavior of excitations or fluctuations
above the condensate, as driven by the dynamics of the condensate (rather than
the dynamics of the condensate alone or the kinetics of the atoms). The
dynamics of the condensate squeezes and amplifies the quantum excitations,
mixing the positive and negative frequency components of their wave functions
thereby creating particles which appear as bursts and jets. By analyzing the
changing amplitude and particle content of these excitations, our simple
physical picture (based on a test field approximation) explains well the
overall features of the Bose Novae phenomena and provide excellent quantitative
fits with experimental data on several aspects, such as the scaling behavior of
the collapse time and the amount of particles in the jet. The predictions of
the bursts at this level of approximation is less than satisfactory but may be
improved on by including the backreaction of the excitations on the condensate.
The mechanism behind the dominant effect -- parametric amplification of vacuum
fluctuations and freezing of modes outside of horizon -- is similar to that of
cosmological particle creation and structure formation in a rapid quench (which
is fundamentally different from Hawking radiation in black holes). This shows
that BEC dynamics is a promising venue for doing `laboratory cosmology'.Comment: Latex 36 pages, 6 figure
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